OneBreadOneBody

News from Holy Innocents & St. Nicholas
11.12.06

Sun Dancer Christ

What lies behind us and what lies before us matters little when compared to what lies within us.– Cherokee saying

Nothing we do changes the past. Everything we do changes the future. – — Joan Chittister

Annual Campaign/Stewardship Drive. You should receive in the mail this week a letter from the leaders of both congregations inviting your 2007 pledge to support the ministry of the new congregation. Your prompt and generous response will enable us to begin planning in concrete ways for what we anticipate will be a year of spiritual and numerical growth. THANKS!

What was your name again? The reappearance of nametags. Those who were at St. Nicholas last Sunday saw, upon entering the church, nametags placed next to the bulletins. They will be in the same place every time we gather as a community from now on. We ask everyone to please make a habit of wearing a nametag every time we gather. St. Nicholas is a community comprised of many new members as well as those that have been around for quite some time. Our goal is to continue to welcome and get to know
each other, but also to welcome those who are with us for the first time on any particular Sunday.

Those who have been to a liturgy at Holy Innocents know that our new family members there wear nametags at every service. What a wonderful way to show hospitality! We are very good at tending to those among us who are new, but just think how wonderful it will feel to welcome someone by name, or hand a hymnal to a newcomer and be able to call them by name. In order to really get to know each other on a deeper level, we need to be able to call each other by name. It sounds like a simple concept, but it will take
us a great deal closer to our ongoing goal of radical hospitality. Thank you!

November is Women in Ministry Month; please welcome Deb Seles as presider at both liturgies today. To celebrate the installation of Katherine Jefferts Schori, we are turning to the women among us to lead us in as many visible ways as possible this month. Deb was ordained from St. Nicholas, so this is partly a homecoming for her.

November is also a time to remember those who have died. St. Nicholas has done this for many years by adding their names to a banner that hangs behind the altar until the first Sunday of Advent. There will be a time during each liturgy this month when you can come forward to add names to it. You also can do it at other times. Holy Innocents parishioners are encouraged to drop by St. Nicholas during November to add names of their loved ones.

Thank you to all who helped in so many ways with the funeral of Bob De Haven. The wake and all-night vigil were beautiful, and the funeral on Monday was simple and lovely. Many of the long-time parishioners who left St. Nicholas in 2003-2004 were back for the funeral liturgy, and the participation of old and new St. Nicholasites created a meaningful ritual structure for the goodbye to Bob. Nearly all who had left had kind words for their old parish, commenting on how wonderful it looked and how
warm the hospitality was.

I (Steve) also was able to have some healing pastoral conversations with several people who had been disappointed in, and critical, of me and I was touched when one woman said, “I’m glad we can still be friends.” Me, too. It’s wonderful that an occasion of mourning and grieving can also be a time of healing and hope. This seemed a fitting memorial to Bob, too, for he truly was a gentle and kind, loyal and steadfast man. It’s also a reminder to all of us as we combine our two congregations that from pain and sadness
come healing and hope.

Finally, it was nice to have our former music director, Amy Dolan, back. As Bob’s daughter Marcia later reminded me, Bob would have been delighted because he loved to listen to Amy sing. And as Amy reminded me, it was fitting for her, too, because one of her very first liturgies at St. Nicholas – when she began with us in 1996 — was the vigil and funeral for Bob’s wife, Irene. So again my thanks to all who helped make this funeral so loving and wonderful. You are a great congregation, St. Nicholas – and Holy
Innocents, too, for the vestments I wore and the funeral pall we used came from Holy Innocents. Thank you.

Today is a Mission Day. St. Nicholas will need volunteers after the liturgy to pick up bags of food from the houses at which we dropped a shopping bag last Sunday. Although things went well last Sunday, we could use more volunteers for pick-up. The good news is that pick-up goes even faster than drop off. We also need folks with mini-vans, wagons, SUVs or pick-ups to help with the pick up. We are going to repeat our mission outreach in December, when Bishop Scantlebury visits, and in 2007, we
are planning to do a similar outreach every other month. Not only does this increase our mission and ministry – it also raises our profile in the community.

Holy Innocents building to close December 31. This difficult decision was made at the October 29 Joint Bishop’s Committee meeting. There will be a final liturgy celebrating the Feast of the Holy Innocents on December 31 and a party afterwards to celebrate the past, present, and future life of the congregation, whose life is changed, not ended.

Fannie Mae fundraiser. Great candy at great prices. Now at Holy Innocents and St. Nicholas. Sign up by November 19. Bring food to church.

St. Nicholas parishioners are now asked every week to bring some non-perishable food items. We are now calling our giving program, Second Family. We have social workers from area schools helping us to identify families with significant needs, especially for food. In this way, we meet two of our mission goals – to help children and the hungry. As those of you at church a couple of Sundays ago heard, we’ve been told by the principal at Clearmont school (our neighbor) that the little girl from their
school whose family we adopted last year is doing great this year – thanks to your help. So please be generous.

Thanksgiving Eve liturgy will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, November 22 at Holy Innocents with the combined choirs of the two congregations! That will be a feast rivaling the turkey that follows on Thursday.

Advent and Christmas schedule. For those looking ahead to the Christmas season, here’s our schedule:

• The First Sunday of Advent, December 3. One liturgy at St. Nicholas with both congregations. Bishop Scantlebury presiding and preaching. 10:30 a.m.
• The Second Sunday of Advent, December 10. Regular schedule.
• The Third Sunday of Advent, December 17. Regular schedule.
• The Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 24. One Advent liturgy at Holy Innocents with both congregations. 10 a.m.
• Christmas Eve, December 24.
• Family Mass at St. Nicholas, 4 p.m.
• Traditional Mass at Holy Innocents, 8 p.m.
• Traditional Midnight Mass at St. Nicholas, 11 p.m.